John Q. Public

Records issues put spotlight on Kroger.

Attorney General John Kroger is pushing the most ambitious rewrite of Oregon’s Public Records Law in three decades.

But one aspect of his legislation may get him crosswise with Treasurer Ted Wheeler, a fellow Democrat and political rival.

In
the legislative session that began in earnest this week, Kroger
introduced Senate Bill 41. The measure aims to produce public records
more quickly, more cheaply and with fewer exemptions. Since the original
public records law in 1973, special interests have increased the number
of exemptions more than sevenfold—from 55 to more than 400.

Kroger’s
proposed change that could cause a political dust-up is bill language
aimed at prying open the details of contracts the state treasury signs
with private equity investment firms.

In
the wake of a mini-scandal over state investment officers’ travel
expenses, Kroger wants Oregon’s Treasury Department to disclose
“investment-related records of treasurer and [Oregon Investment
Council]” because they should not be “exempt insofar as they contain
information about any benefit received by a state employee or state
agency.”

That proposal puts Wheeler—Kroger’s potential rival in the 2014 Democratic gubernatorial primary—in an interesting bind.
Wheeler says the state’s investment agreements may contain proprietary
information and that disclosing their details would take away Oregon’s
information edge in those deals.

But Wheeler is in a box. If he opposes Kroger’s proposals, he hands his potential future gubernatorial rival an issue by appearing to oppose transparency. If he goes along with Kroger, he may be surrendering valuable information.

For now, Wheeler is taking a positive approach toward the proposed guidelines drafted for his agency.

“We
haven’t seen the final language yet,” says Wheeler’s spokesman, James
Sinks. “But we are fully supportive of the attorney general’s efforts.”

Others
are less supportive of Kroger’s current approach to public records, but
in a separate context—the long-running battle over the Department of
Justice investigation into contracting practices at the Oregon
Department of Energy. That probe took a new turn last week.

On Jan. 26, the same day The Oregonian
published a front-page story about the role of Gov. John Kitzhaber’s
longtime companion, Cylvia Hayes, in an Oregon Department of Energy
contract, state officials demanded the return of nine discs filled with
investigative material from attorneys representing four ODOE employees
who remain on administrative leave related to the investigation.

On Jan. 26, DOJ attorney Donna Bennett wrote to ODOEemployees’
attorneys, requesting they return the discs and “destroy any electronic
or hard copies of those discs that have been made.”

“It appears that the discs may contain information that should not have been released,” Bennett explained.

“While
we are sensitive to the interests of the many people and businesses
whose rights have been violated by the attorney general’s unlawful
disclosure of confidential information, the responsibility for those
violations rests entirely with the attorney general,” Gary and Frohmayer
wrote Jan. 28.

Translation: The Oregonian
has some or all of the records the AG still has not made public, and at
least some of the lawyers who have them are refusing to give them back.

Kroger spokesman Tony
Green says regarding the Treasury issue that Kroger’s only interest is
to increase transparency. And as for the ODOE files, Green says, “We are
currently working to ensure that sensitive information is not disclosed
publicly.”